Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Ok so this is kind of a fitness tip too. I exercise first thing in the morning, you know before I actually am awake and can think a normal thought. That way I can't talk my way out of it. But I do like to stretch and do a few exercises in the evening, especially if I'm watching TV. Thats where my handy Pinterest app tip comes in handy. If you have the Pinterest app you can save photos to your phone, like one of those exercise things you see, so you don't have to go digging through Pinterest for it.

Open up your Pinterest app and choose explore. It will pull up a list of topics to search through. For this I'm going to look in fitness. You can also search things like exercise, abs, leg workout...

Scroll through until you see an exercise you might want to try. I think that lean legs pyramid looks pretty good so I want to try that. Sigh, since that is the area I need the most work on!

Tap the photo you want to take a closer look at. You might have to scroll down a bit but see that button that says More? Tap that.

It will pull up this screen. Check it out, you can save it to your camera roll! Tap that button.

After you finish checking out all the other fabulousness on Pinterest you can go see your photo in your camera roll. See my Instagram photos? And yes I am kind of considering homeschool. But thats besides the point. There is my lean legs pyramid at the end.

Now I can get lean legs while watching 30Rock and the Office. Oh geez this looks tough. I hate jumping jacks!

Pretty snazzy eh. Now you can have exercises within reach instead of reaching for the cheetos! Want to know something terrible? When I was nursing Ivy I would watch the Biggest Loser and eat cheetos. She was literally sucking all the fat off of my body so I felt completely justified. At least they were the natural cheetos... just sayin.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Phew what a week! Actually what a weekend. I think we use the week to catch up from our weekends! Now that spring is here Greenies just gets busier and busier so by Monday we are pooped! Here's a glimpse of what we were up to last week via Instagram

Darin and I decided to have a Harry Potter marathon. One movie each night. We started last Saturday and finished on Friday. But how old are we because we only watched at the most half of each one cuz we always fell asleep!

Goldilocks decided she wanted bumpy hair for church. So we braided her hair after baths Saturday night. Then she decided to keep the braids for church. They were definitely worse for the ware from sleeping. Oh well.

She had bumpy hair on Monday instead.

I've had a good string of luck with pinterest tries. Shredding cooked chicken in the mixer works like a charm!

We've grown lots of things in the family garden at Grandma's but every preschooler has to grow grass I think. We used tuna fish cans and a $3 bag of grass seed from Walmart.

Then we went outside and spread the rest of the seeds in some bare spots. Pink galoshes are awesome.

Sometimes on rainy days you just have to watch movies and hang out. Tying knots is very theraputic I've decided. Unless you mess up, then its really not.

Green just might be my favorite color.

I was toast after working two days in a row. On Saturday I sold 23 pairs of Toms. TWENTY. THREE. I'm so happy that kids are getting shoes. And on that note...

Bwahaha. I was laughing so hard when my sister sent me that. I love sarcasm in case you didn't know.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

WINNER!! Kristen You are the lucky lady today! I'll be emailing you shortly to get you all set!!

Hey guys I have a giveaway for you today! Ooooh Lucky!

Did you get that new DSLR camera you wanted for Christmas? Its March now, do you know how to use all those fancy settings to get the most out of your camera? Well Darin wants to give away another spot in his upcoming Intro to Photography class on March 31st! The Intro to Photography class is just right for you and your new DSLR. You will learn how to use your camera and what the heck things like aperture mean, and why you need to know that so you can take awesome photos!

Remember when I was saying I didn't want to link to some of my older posts because I was kind of embarrassed about the pictures I used to take. Well I have been the guinea pig for his lessons and look how much better I've gotten! I only have to take a couple pictures to get it right instead of 20.

Level Up! Photography workshops are a great way to expand your photography skills whether you are a momtog or a professional. To be entered to win a spot in the upcoming Intro to Photography class, visit the Level Up! facebook page and like it if you haven't already. Then come back here and tell me how much you are looking forward to learning how to use your camera.

Good Luck! A winner will be chosen Tuesday March 27th.

Don't want to stress about not getting a spot in the class if you don't win? Go ahead and register for the class!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

I told you guys a month ago that I only had one week left of P90x. I've had some emails with questions about it so I thought I'd share my results and my thoughts on it in case you are wanting to give it a whirl.

First up here's my results. I'm not quite brave enough to put my measurements out there for the whole world to see, this is scary enough, but here's how I finished up.

K. The weight I lost all in the first month. I've stayed the same weight since then but my body measurements have gotten smaller so I look to that as a gauge more than the scale. I would urge the same for anyone. I think it has definitely helped to weigh myself more regularly but it isn't the most important number. I will say that when I started I hadn't weighed myself in a long time and I cried when I did the first time. I hadn't weighed that much in a long time {like 12 years} and it definitely gave me the motivation I needed.

The inches I lost in my hips was the best part, but I still have a ways to go in that area. I definitely store any extra weight in my lower half {thats why I am showing you this rockin picture of my arms HA!} I feel like I am getting thinner from the head down and the feet up, so my butt especially is still a work in progress.

All right here's some answers to your questions about P90x.

*My trusty workout partner and I did the lean version of the program which has more of the cardio dvds and not so much weightlifting. Not so much as in you do a million pushups instead. The 13 weeks are split in to 3 four week sets so you change up the videos you are doing every four weeks with an "easy" week in between each set. I would recommend the lean schedule if want a descent mix of cardio and strength training. Although I would change up the last four weeks of the program if I was going to do it again so that it included a bit more leg work.

*The workouts are hard but not the hardest thing ever, promise. If you are just getting back in to exercising its awesome. Should I have some medical disclaimer inserted here?! I think the hardest part actually is the time commitment. You need at least an hour every day. I really like to do yoga and pilates but yoga day was my least favorite, mostly because it was 90+ minutes. And that meant I had to get up even earlier. Ugh.

*The Legs + Back video, and the Core Synergystics video are my two favorites probably. I would incorporate those two in to a regular workout routine. Ultimately what I got from P90x is its just like Tony says... you hate it, but you love it.

*I didn't follow the diet but I did start eating healthier. I would have had more dramatic results I'm sure if I was more of a stickler on my diet. I'm really starting to believe that its true what they say about it being 70% diet and 30% exercise.

*The biggest benefit has been how much more energy I have and my dedication has spilled over in to other parts of my life. My house is cleaner, I'm getting more sleep, I'm happier, I'm more patient and my relationships are better. In the end I think it came down to a change of attitude and determination for me. Whether it was p90x or something else it was time for me to get my butt moving. This just happened to work right for me at the right time.

{this is in no way affiliated with p90x just a normal girls thoughts about it}

Monday, March 19, 2012

The force is strong in this house. Ivy walks around going Duh Duh DUh dun dun dun...dun du dun. All. Day. Long. We have the next 5 halloweens planned out.

In primary a few weeks ago she told the kids in her class that they needed to be quiet like Obi Wan.

She needed some Star Wars undies in her life.

You know how you get packs of undies and half are just plain white? They aren't fun so they don't get worn. Stenciling is a great way to make them fun. To start you will need some plain undies {or whatever you want to stencil really just make sure it is pre washed, fabric paint and a stencil, }. There are a couple of different materials you can use as a stencil. An actual stencil, freezer paper or vinyl. I prefer vinyl because you can get a more intricate design and use transfer paper to get all the tiny pieces in the right spot.

For my Star Wars stencils I found some free pumpkin carving templates online and imported them in to my Silhouette. I did a trace and them cut them out with the Silhouette. For a stencil you are going to weed the inverse of what you normally would take out of a sticker. You can also trace and cut Freezer paper for a stencil if you don't have a craft cutter.

Once you have your stencil, adhere it to your undies or whatever.

After you've got your stencil in place, put some cardboard like a cereal box under the area you are going to paint, be sure to put it in between any layers. Then just go ahead and paint over it in thin coats. I used some pink craft paint and mixed it with Martha Stewart Fabric medium to make it washable. Now be patient and let it dry. Sometimes that is the hardest part. Once its dry you can take off your stencil.

Just one more quick step... heat set your design with an iron and you are ready to rock your star wars undies.

The storm trooper ones are my favorite. Although little girls running around with R2D2 on their buns is pretty dang cute.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Hello again insta friday! I love how you help me recap my week and keep track of the days. Here's a little peek into our goings on this week.

I found this one from a couple of weeks ago. We celebrated my MIL's birthday with fruit pizzas. She is one sweet lady and we luv her!

We need to have friends over more often. Ivy enjoys every single second. And I'm not going to lie I got SO much done! These three were cracking me up all day.

We tie dyed for mutual on Wednesday. It was at our house so of course Ivy had to get in on the action. Luckily it was a success! She even wore her shirt all day which is saying something for her. I hope she can learn to wear clothes for more than five minutes before kindergarten starts.

Th wind this week decimated our sad trampoline pad. Hopefully the new one comes today since the sun is shining. But sunshine or not, its always good times when Darin gives horse rides.

The most important part of Christmas. All year long.

Hope you have a fun weekend!

Linking up with all the peeps at Life Rearranged

If you want to see what we are up to during the week, come follow along in the fun on instagram @ruffledsunshine!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

My sweet holiday loving little girl deserves spring decorations right? Even when her mom just doesn't love spring decorations. But when I saw these fun colored plastic eggs at Target I knew we could compromise and add a fun garland to Ivy's room.

A craft can't get much easier than this simple spring garland. It was a perfect rainy day activity for us. The eggs already have holes in the ends and everything. All you will need is...

plastic eggs {mine were $2 for a big bag at Target}

string

Have little hands help you take apart your eggs and then you can start stringing them together. Ivy came up with a pattern and was great at keeping them in order. If the holes weren't quite punched all the way through, all I had to do was take a pencil and poke the hole to make room for the string. Once you have the length of garland you want, knot the ends of your string and hang it where you want.

We hung ours in Ivy's room along with her bunny garland she made. I used Dana's Peeps bunting pattern and imported it in to my Silhouette. Then I used the Silhouette to cut out some bunnies using white cardstock and gave them to Ivy to color. I love all of the smiling faces! After that we punched some holes and strung them together. Almost as simple as the egg garland and just as fun to do together.

Ivy thinks the only thing better would be if the eggs were filled with candy!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

I tend to get a little bit of wanderlust in February and March. The cold wind and gray days get to me I guess. I've got it BAD right now. I'm this close to selling just about everything we own and moving to some tropical island. Doesn't that sound wonderful?

It seems wonderful because I feel like if I did it, the hard things about my life would just go away. Being on a beach all day I can handle. The real life stuff, I'm not so good at handling sometimes.

I eventually talked myself out of putting all of my furniture on Craigslist this morning with things like...

Ivy is starting kindergarten in the fall, and I would miss my family and friends, and there is a little baby here that needs me. The time is coming soon for our family to get bigger and if I was on a tropical island I would miss it.

And then I made a full recovery and realize that it's going to be ok. That sometimes, yeah life is hard but what I need is more faith, not white sandy beaches.

So, I'll keep my stuff.

I'll work on having more faith.

I don't want to miss my adventure because I was too busy hoping for a different one.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Ahh Instafriday. I love how you help me keep track of my days and weeks. Here's a peek of what I've been up to via Instagram.

Last weekend Darin taught a photography class in Spokane so after a long day of work, Ivy and I treated ourselves to the giant raspberries from Yokes. And after Ivy went to bed I watched some Downton Abbey. We watched season one on Netflix, so imagine my surprise at how amazing season 2 looked on my Ipad. If you haven't given in to watching it yet, you really should.

She likes to work out. Silly girl. I'm 100% sure she can do more pull ups than me. I think I have her beat on pushups though.

We took to the road Sunday for a quick trip to finalize our fall Toms order for Greenies. Umm you are going to die when you see them. I'll just say wedge bootie. I passed the time listening to This American Life. Don't you love how they all talk the same?

Of course it rained while we were there, it is Portland after all.

I've driven past that tree farm who knows how many times in my life. When I was younger it meant we were about halfway to Boise. Now it means we are almost home.

The sun actually did shine while we were in the big city too. I celebrated by getting these cheesy and fabulous sunnies at Target. I feel very Marilyn Monroe in them, don't you agree dahling!

I made a batch of No Bake Energy Bites from Smashed Peas and Carrots. I switched out the chocolate chips for craisins, and next time I think I will skip the coconut and add more oats.

And while we are on the subject of food. Don't you wish kiwis were bigger?!

{If you just can't wait till Friday to see what I'm up to you can follow me on instagram @ruffledsunshine}